F30 330d M Sport Touring

[drmark]

drgav2005 said:

Thanks! Must admit I am very impressed by the high beam assist, it works incredibly well and was one of the cheaper options I stuck on the car!!!

Comfort mode certainly soaks up all the bumps and scabby tarmac the UK can throw at it and I found I left it in this mode most of the time. I generally used the sports mode when I was the only one in the car and felt like making progress, although I think I enjoyed the sharper throttle response more than the firmer suspension / heavier steering (of course this could be configured in the suspension settings through iDrive). I seem to recall (when buying the car) road testers saying that the standard M-Sport suspension was overly firm, so I actually specified the adaptive to give a softer day to day ride. I could well be mistaken though and never did get the chance to test drive a standard suspension car before I ordered (or since). It seems to be a preferred option though when people are buying.

To be honest I wasn't really thinking about changing until next year when the car was due for renewal but I'm recovering from shoulder surgery... what is they say about idle hands?!

I'm moving to the dark side, so considering the switch to an Audi RS6 Avant.

Just made exact same move. You will NOT regret it

[T5SOR]

Whilst I am very jealous of your RS6 purchases, I am also looking forward to picking up Gav's 330d in a couple of weeks

[drmark]

T5SOR said:

Whilst I am very jealous of your RS6 purchases, I am also looking forward to picking up Gav's 330d in a couple of weeks

You won't regret that either. Fab all round car.

[JNW1]

drmark said:

Just made exact same move. You will NOT regret it

Was about to question whether you and drgav were also going to be investing in shares in BP or Shell but it seems the latest RS6 is positively frugal compared to the old V10! Can certainly understand the appeal of the Audi but from memory you haven't had the F31 for that long so what prompted the desire to change so quickly?

[drgav2005]

drmark said:

Just made exact same move. You will NOT regret it

Order placed - now the L O N G wait until March

[Ady555]

What spec have you gone for this time?

[Slippydiff]

Just a quick note on the 18" v's 19" wheel/tyre options.
I took delivery of a 7k miles '63 plate 330 D M Sport Auto on 19's last Saturday.
I'd test driven 3 other cars, all on 19's.
The ride whilst not bad, wasn't something I could (or would) want to live with on a daily basis whilst traversing the UK's now poorly maintained roads.
Previous BMW dealers had been happy to "downgrade" the wheels/ tyres on cars I've bought, an E46 330 D MSport from 18's to 17's and an E90 335D MSport from 19's to 18's (which I subsequently changed over to non run flats)
Sytner however were unwilling to change the F30 onto 18's.

I found a set of unmarked Style M400 wheels with nearly new (7mm) Bridgestone run flats on Gumtree for £750.
Having collected the car last Saturday lunchtime, the ride on 19's had started to grate less than 24 hours into my ownership, so on Sunday afternoon I swapped the wheels over and adjusted the pressures in the 18's to 29 Fr and 33 Rr.

The front tyres are 225/45 18, the rears 255/40 18. The 19's run 40 profile fronts and 35 profile rears.
The difference to ride, handling, compliance and refinement is truly staggering. It's a while since I've driven a car with 45 profile tyres, it makes for a truly pleasant experience.
When the run flats are worn out I'll go for similarly sized Michelin Pilot SuperSports, Continental Sport Contact 6's or Goodyear F1's and enjoy an even more cosseting ride.
Most 330D' MSports seem to specified with the 19" wheels (were they an option or standard fit ?) I'd suggest anyone considering buying one of these cars tries an example on 18's, you may be pleasantly surprised at how much nicer the car is to drive and how less on tiptoes it feels.

Not my car, but a Glacier Silver on the same 18" Style M 400 wheels :

[ghibbett]

Common sense prevails

Isn't it amazing how much nicer a car is to drive on smaller wheels. I've been looking at 340is and, without any shadow of doubt, I would also spec 18"s. Tend to be more progressive in the transition from grip to slip too

[drmark]

JNW1 said:

Was about to question whether you and drgav were also going to be investing in shares in BP or Shell but it seems the latest RS6 is positively frugal compared to the old V10! Can certainly understand the appeal of the Audi but from memory you haven't had the F31 for that long so what prompted the desire to change so quickly?

Sorry, just seen this.
The F31 was a great car but I felt no love. I nearly went RS6 when I bought it but common sense prevailed. Then I had a f@@k it moment - life is too short.
Suffice to say I feel the love now.
As for mpg. Much better than previous models. Average 23mpg over last 2500 miles - and 29mpg on 200 mile return trip to London (nearly all motorway at good speed).
Not great compared to BMW but well worth the extra

[RobM77]

I've tried loads of combinations on the 5 BMWs that I've owned and the countless ones I've driven and I definitely prefer smaller wheels and tyres, or more specifically I should say "the standard wheels and tyres that the suspension was primarily set up for", which are usually the smallest on offer. I currently have an E90 on the standard huge profile 17s and it's extremely fluid, with lovely gentle manners when pushing on. My last car was a Z4 Coupé on 19s and it jittered and jiggled everywhere - it just never settled. The turn-in from the low profile tyres was better, but overall I prefer the fluid way that my E90 drives.

[Slippydiff]

RobM77 said:

I've tried loads of combinations on the 5 BMWs that I've owned and the countless ones I've driven and I definitely prefer smaller wheels and tyres, or more specifically I should say "the standard wheels and tyres that the suspension was primarily set up for", which are usually the smallest on offer. I currently have an E90 on the standard huge profile 17s and it's extremely fluid, with lovely gentle manners when pushing on. My last car was a Z4 Coupé on 19s and it jittered and jiggled everywhere - it just never settled. The turn-in from the low profile tyres was better, but overall I prefer the fluid way that my E90 drives.

E90 335 D M Sport auto on 18" Michelin Pilot Sport runflats better than the equivalent Bridgesteones of the era (2007). The same car on Michelin Pilot Sport 2 non runflats really very acceptable. But the same car on 17" wheels and Michelin Primacy's, just about perfect Granted, not the grippiest tyre, but brought back the pliancy the earlier cars were rightly renowed for.

How individuals drove around on 19" wheels with early Bridgestone runflats on their E9X M Sports thinking the ride was anything but horrendous remains a complete mystery to me. That the 19" wheels were cracking left right and centre should've been some kind of indicator that BMW hadn't got things quite right .....

[JNW1]

drmark said:

Sorry, just seen this.
The F31 was a great car but I felt no love. I nearly went RS6 when I bought it but common sense prevailed. Then I had a f@@k it moment - life is too short.
Suffice to say I feel the love now.
As for mpg. Much better than previous models. Average 23mpg over last 2500 miles - and 29mpg on 200 mile return trip to London (nearly all motorway at good speed).
Not great compared to BMW but well worth the extra

Totally get where you're coming from! The F31 is indeed an excellent piece of kit but for me it's a case of quite possibly all the car I'd ever need but certainly not all the car I'd ever want; it's doing a very effective job for me at the moment but if my circumstances and requirements were different I'd be back in something like an M-car like a shot!

[335d]

JNW1 said:

drmark said:

Sorry, just seen this.
The F31 was a great car but I felt no love. I nearly went RS6 when I bought it but common sense prevailed. Then I had a f@@k it moment - life is too short.
Suffice to say I feel the love now.
As for mpg. Much better than previous models. Average 23mpg over last 2500 miles - and 29mpg on 200 mile return trip to London (nearly all motorway at good speed).
Not great compared to BMW but well worth the extra

Totally get where you're coming from! The F31 is indeed an excellent piece of kit but for me it's a case of quite possibly all the car I'd ever need but certainly not all the car I'd ever want; it's doing a very effective job for me at the moment but if my circumstances and requirements were different I'd be back in something like an M-car like a shot!

I agree completely with this, the F3x is a great car, for the price. If you had twice the budget to spend on a car, there are much better options out there, as you might expect. The M5, M6GC and RS6 would all be contenders.

With the addition of ACS springs to sharpen up the handling, I can't find a car that comes close at the price.

[EDWARDO]

I have to agree ive just got a new 335d Touring and its got 18 inch wheels and have to say I find it very comfy and quite grippy although I did have a back end out moment on a wet roundabout, I think its one of the best all rounder cars ive had and the engine and gearbox are just brilliant, that torque is great fun plus I have to say I do like the xdrive in this weather.

[drgav2005]

drmark said:

The F31 was a great car but I felt no love. I nearly went RS6 when I bought it but common sense prevailed. Then I had a f@@k it moment - life is too short.
Suffice to say I feel the love now.

Hahahaha ^^^^^ exactly this! Great minds think alike (or...)

[drgav2005]

Ady555 said:

What spec have you gone for this time?

Seepang blue pearl paint, black pack, panoramic roof, rear side airbags, head up display, privacy glass, front and rear heated seats, tow bar, speed limit display, 3 spoke heated wheel, advanced key, audi connect + phone box, parking pack advanced, assistance pack and... wait for it... (I can hear the screams already)... 21" black gloss alloys

As drmark has said, life is (far, far) too short - buy the damned car (bike / holiday / delete as appropriate)

Have to say though that the 19" alloys on the F31 with adaptive suspension rode very well. I also used 18" winter wheels and tyres during the winter (about 10 months a year up here!!) and they were great too. Certainly more compliant but I enjoyed the swap between wheels (19"->18" and 18"->19") every year... almost like changing my car every 6 months.

[335d]

drgav2005 said:

Have to say though that the 19" alloys on the F31 with adaptive suspension rode very well. I also used 18" winter wheels and tyres during the winter (about 10 months a year up here!!) and they were great too. Certainly more compliant but I enjoyed the swap between wheels (19"->18" and 18"->19") every year... almost like changing my car every 6 months.

I also swap from 19" summer (Bridgestone Potenza RFT, soon to be replaced with Michelin PSS non-RFT) to 18" winters (Sottozero RFT) and enjoy the swap both ways. Interesting to hear that someone else likes doing this - I thought I was alone in actually enjoying the change of wheels and the feel of driving a different car.

I find particularly going between staggered summer(255,225) and square winter (225) changes the handling characteristics significantly.

[JNW1]

335d said:

I also swap from 19" summer (Bridgestone Potenza RFT, soon to be replaced with Michelin PSS non-RFT) to 18" winters (Sottozero RFT) and enjoy the swap both ways. Interesting to hear that someone else likes doing this - I thought I was alone in actually enjoying the change of wheels and the feel of driving a different car.

I find particularly going between staggered summer(255,225) and square winter (225) changes the handling characteristics significantly.

A bit off topic (so apologies for that!) but after around 21k miles I'm getting to the point of needing a couple of tyres on my F31 335d; however, slightly to my surprise it's the fronts that have worn more than the rears. With X-Drive I was expecting similar wear for all four tyres or, with supposedly a rear-drive bias, the rears to wear if anything slightly faster than the fronts. Therefore, is this wear pattern normal on an X-Drive? Come replacement time I'm thinking I'll move to conventional tyres but to do that it looks like I'll be throwing away a pair or rears with a fair bit of tread left!

[RobM77]

I've owned 5 BMWs over the last fifteen years, all FE/RWD and all have worn their tyres at exactly the same rate front to rear (I check them every Dec and March when I switch to winters). This is why BMWs are FE/RWD: it's the most balanced layout in terms of loadings on the chassis in cornering. I haven't owned or driven an X Drive model, but it doesn't surprise me at all that they wear their fronts more, I would have thought that's normal and to be expected.

[JNW1]

RobM77 said:

I've owned 5 BMWs over the last fifteen years, all FE/RWD and all have worn their tyres at exactly the same rate front to rear (I check them every Dec and March when I switch to winters). This is why BMWs are FE/RWD: it's the most balanced layout in terms of loadings on the chassis in cornering. I haven't owned or driven an X Drive model, but it doesn't surprise me at all that they wear their fronts more, I would have thought that's normal and to be expected.

You surprise me! I've also owned a number of BMW's over the last 10 years (all RWD) and without exception they all wore their rears more quickly than the fronts; on my M3 CS and E92 335i the rears would last for about 18k miles but I'd get double that out of the fronts! I'd only expect the fronts to wear more quickly than the rears on a front-drive car but perhaps not.....